Philip Lane and the ECB, under the tree at Spar and steady as she goes for Irish bonds

The Government is unlikely to put a name forward for upcoming openings at the top of the euro-zone's banking supervision authority, as it concentrates its efforts on securing a European Central Bank (ECB) executive board job for Philip Lane early next year, according to sources. Deputy Central Bank of Ireland governor, Sharon Donnery, was reported on Wednesday to be among potential candidates to succeed the ECB's banking supervision chair, Daniele Nouy, whose term comes to an end in December. Joe Brennan has the details.

BWG Foods, the owner of the Spar franchise in Ireland, has refinanced its debts estimated at about €220 million. It is understood the new banking facility has freed up a €33 million warchest for BWG to spend on fresh acquisitions. Mark Paul reports.

The head of the State's debt office has said that the steady performance of Irish government bonds in the face of recent market turbulence sparked by Italy's political crisis is evidence that investors have "reclassified" the nation's creditworthiness, writes Joe Brennan.

Hamburg will make history on Thursday as it imposes the first inner-city ban on trucks and older diesel cars, in a bid to improve air quality in Germany's second city, writes Derek Scally, our Berlin correspondent .

Is equity crowdfunding too good to be true?

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MEP uses Dublin speech to call for EU to lead on robotics and AI

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Digicel ends West Indies cricket sponsorship

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New mortgage approvals rise 14% in April

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"Persistently" high private debt levels pose a serious risk to Ireland's economic outlook , the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned. Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports.

Our resident big brain, Cantillon, asks whether the Irish economy is over-heating and ponders the fluctuating fortunes of Ocado and M&S.

In her weekly column Karlin Lillington pays tribute to Mary Mulvihill, a science journalism pioneer who blazed a trail for women.

Ciara O'Brien wonders whether equity crowd-funding is too good to be true.

Charlie Taylor tells us how a Dublin-based company is boxing cleverly to expand into financial services and utilities.

You have to admire Fujifilm, launching an analogue camera in a digital world, ploughing its own path, one instant photo at a time, writes Ciara O'Brien, as she puts it through its paces.

GDPR is successfully forcing politicians, companies and the general public to recognise the value of personal data, writes Chris Horn. The trade-off between personal privacy and law enforcement is a political and philosophical boundary for society.

Neil Briscoe hears that the new the Jaguar Land Rover research facility in Shannon is key to its future development.